Double acting valve



Dec. 4, 1956 A. H. BOILEAU ETAL 2,772,693

DOUBLE ACTING VALVE Original Filed Oct.- 22. 1948 "2a 17 g I9 I ,0 l 20 5 i Z4 I I5 I 1- Is I; l 1 y I22 m 1 y j f 1 INVENTORS I4 ARTHUR H. BOILEAU g CHARLES (.LRAYMAN fi.

7t; 3 FRANc/s 5. son

W7ATTORNEY Cherry-Burrell Corporation, .Wilmington, Del., a corporation OriginaLapplication October 22, 1948,-Serial No; 56,022, new :Patent .No. 2,665,628, :dated January '12, 1954. Divided :and -this application April 3, 1952, :Serial No. 281,113

3 Claims. (Cl. BW- 51223) 'This invention relates to an'improvedpressure responsive valve 'for controlling the introduction of liquid into processing chambers, for venting alliquid supply conduit to the atmosphere, and for admitting .air into a liquid conduit upon'the undue decrease in the pressure of the liquid being supplied toisaid processing chamber.

The subjectmatter of this patent was divided out of copending application Serial No. 56,022,'fi1ed0ctober 22, 1948, now Patent No. 2,665,628, ,patented January 12, 1954.

A valve of the type disclosedherein'is adapted to "be used as an inlet valve 'for aprocessing chamber in which sub atmospheric pressure may be maintained and, ifdesired, varied as the treatment progresses.

"The primary objects ofthisinvention are to provide an improved valve wherein excess air may .be purged from the liquid supply conduit prior to the introduction of untreated liquid into a processing chamber; wherein airmay automatically'beadmitted into the liquid supl ly conduit. immediately. ahead of'thepoint .ofentr'y of liquid into the processing'chamber'in the event that .thepressure ofi'the'incoming untreated liquid is less than a predetermined pressure, thereby to prevent the continued introduction of untreated liquid into the processing chamber; and wherein'the liquid is continuously supplied to the processing chamber under pressure in-excess of a predetermined pressure by a pump or equivalent mechanism.

The foregoing and other objectives will be more apparent and will be more readily understood when read in connection with the drawing illustrating the preferred embodiment of the valve contemplated'by this'invention, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1.is a diagrammatic representation of the valve nited States Patent of this inventioninterposed'between a pump and a prosessing chamber;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of said valve;

Fig. 3 is a view-taken on theline 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a view taken on'the line 44 .o'f'Fig; 2.

'Referring now to the drawing, the valve embodying our invention is designated generally by: the. reference numeral 10 and includes a number of valve or fluid flow throttling elements. In the commencement dfthe operation of the processing unit as illustrated .in Patent No. 2,665,628 and ofwhichiprocessing.chamber 11 is apart, the liquid supply 'pipe 12 is normallyfilled .with'air. Upon pla'c'ing the pump13 in operation, the.pump will commence to force liquid .such as milk .ortotherdairy productsthrough the-pipe12 and to compress the air rth'erein. The-pressure of the compressed .air .against the iplunger =14 'tends to raise the plunger within .the lower branch 15 of the housing oftthe compound .valve 10. As'the plunger 14 rises, compressed air tends to escape past the outer edges of the plunger 14 through thechannels 16 in the inner faces of the lower branch of the housing'iS.

ICC

Thepassages 16, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawing, ;gradually increase in width and depth fromthelowen end thereof toward the upper end-thereof. As the pressure of the air compressed in the conduit 12 below the plunger .14 increases and as the plunger 14 rises, the volume ofair which may escape through the channels 16 increases. As the air escapes throughthe channels 16 into the space in the housing of the valve 10 between the plunger. 14.and thespring biased'plunger-17, reciprocallymounted. in the upperbranch of the-housing of the valve 10, the pressure of :the air again increases and the airescapes through .the vent '18 inthe housing of the valve '10.

The relative proportions of the channels 16 and the vent.18.are suchthat theairmay readily escape from the pipe 12 ahead of the liquidbeing supplied thereintoiby the. pump 13. When the ,pipeL12-has been "purgedof air and the liquid engages the plunger 14, the escape of the liquidthrough-the channels 16 is not as rapid'as'theescape of the air therethrough .andthe plunger 14 is rapidly forced upwardly. The upward motion of the plunger1-4 carries with it thevalvestem 19, the upperend of which is triangular in cross sectionandextends through the'vent 18 and it is supported ontthe plunger 14. Such upward motion of the valve stem 19continues until the valve 20 on the valve stem-s seated againstthe valve seat21in the housing of the valve ltlatthe inner'end of the vent 18, thussealing the vent18 and preventingthe further escape of air or liquid through'the vent.

The valve stem '19, the upper portiontof which extends through .the vent v18 has a triangular cross section and permits the ready escape of gasthrough the vent '18 but atthe same time functions .satisfactorilyas 'a guide to accurately seat the valve '20 onto the valve. seat 21. The lower portion of the valve St6I1'lr1-9 extends through 'a central aperture in the plunger and is supported thereonby a spring 22 .whichistelescopecl overthe lowerportion of the 'valvestem l9zintermediate'the lower inner wall of theplunger 14 and the vflanges23 on' the valve stem 19. Such support of the valve stem 19 on the-plunger 14 by the use of spring 22 permits thecontinued'upward motion of the plunger'l l in response to'the pressure" of the liquid in thesupply conduit 12, after'the vent -18.is sealed bythe seating-of the valve -20-against the valve seat .21. A spring retainer 24 is provided which-extends intermediate the upper end of the spring 22 and the flange 23 with the ends thereof extendingdownwardly and outwardly into sliding engagement in slots 25 in the Walls of the plunger 14. Such an arrangement-obviously-permits'the plunger'14 to move upwardly in thelower branch 1'5of the housing of the valve 10 intosuch osition-as to permit'theliquid to enter the enlarged upperportions vof the'channels "16 irrespective of the fact that the vent 18 has been scaled andthe valvestem 19. cannotbe'moved further upwardly.

With the plunger 14 thus r-aised .into an elevated positioniby thepressure of the incomingliquid entering through'the, pipel12 into the housing ofthe .valve -1tl,-the pressure of the liquid intermediate the plungers 14 and 17 quicklybecomes sufiicient so that-the effect of the pressure of the liquidin thepipe .12 on the one side of the plungerfl andthe effect of the vacuum-in chamber 11 on the opposite side of plunger 17 will betomove theplunger '17 intothe upper branch 26 of thehousing of'the' valve '10.againstthepressure of theplunger spring 27. Such motion :of the plunger 17 results in lifting the valve face '28 at'the lower end oftheplunger 17 from the complimentary valve seat '29, to'thus permit the flow otliquid through theintermediatebranc'h 30 of the housing ofthe-valveflt) intothe upper portion ofthe processing cham'berill.

It should be noted from the preceding description of the spring loaded pressure inlet valve forming a part of the compound valve 10, illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing, that all of the product which is supplied to the processing chamber .11 by the pump 13 is supplied through conduit 12 after the air has been purged therefrom and must be supplied under a sufficient pressure to raise the plunger 17 against the pressure of the spring 27, which necessary pressure has been predetermined by the selection of a spring of appropriate strength. The action of the liquid actuated plunger 17 of the compound valve upon the discontinuance of the operation of the pump 13 or upon the occurrence of a sufiicient drop in the pressure on the liquid in the supply line 12, as it may be supplemented or offset by the effect of the vacuum in chamber 11, is, in substance, the reverse of the operation just described for the flow of liquid in the upwardly direction from the pump 13 to the chamber 11.

When the pressure of the liquid in the line .12 drops either as a result of a stoppage or failure of the pump 13, and the combined effect of the pressure of. the liquid in the conduit 12 and the vacuum in the chamber 11 is not suflicient to overcome the pressure of the spring 27 and continue to raise the plunger 17, the plunger 17 will descend in the upper branch 26 of the valve mechanism 10 until the valve face 28 engages the valve seat 29, thereby promptly stopping any further flow of liquid through the valve 10 into the upper portion of the chamber 11. Immediately upon the occurrence of such condition, if the pressure of the liquid in the line 12 drops suthciently, the plunger 14 will, as a result of the effect of gravity, descend sufiiciently to remove the valve element from the valve seat 21, thus opening the air vent 18 and permitting the entry of air into the valve housing 10 intermediate the plungers 14 and 17. Such entry of air through the vent 18 will permit the complete drainage of the pipe 12 through the pump 13, pump 13 having such construction and operating characteristics and being so arranged as to permit such drainage upon stoppage of the pump 13.

Valve 10 is so constructed that when arranged for operation the valve stem 19 is vertical and the air vent valve seat 21 is at the same elevation or lower than the lowermost portions of the valve seat 29. In the event that the drainage of liquid through the pump 13 is slow and the condition of the vacuum still exists in the chamber 11, the entry of air thrOugh the vent .18 into the portion of the valve housing immediately below the valve plunger 17 will prevent the withdrawing of liquid by suction from the housing of the valve 10 throughbetween the valve 28 and the valve seat 29 into the processing chamber 11. Such operation of the plunger 17 of the valve 10 assures the exclusion from chamber 11 of any processing liquid in the event of the stoppage of the pump 13 due to conditions which could cause the discontinuance of the operation of the pump 13 as described in Patent No. 2,665,628.

As is apparent from the preceding description, this invention provides an improved apparatus whereby the entry of untreated liquid into a processing chamber is automatically prevented in such instances where the pressure of the incoming liquid is less than the predetermined pressure, and whereby air is admitted into the liquid supply conduit in those instances where the pressure of the liquid in the supply conduit is abnormally low, so as to permit drainage of the liquid from the conduit back through the supply pipe to prevent the possible leakage of liquid past the inlet valve into the processing chamber.

Having thus described and illustrated the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the invention is not to be restricted to the specific embodiment thereof as illustrated in the drawing and as hereinbefore described, excepting insofar as may be necessary in view of the disclosure of the prior art and the appended claims.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1. In a double acting valve of the class described the combination of a valve body having an inlet chamber with an inlet port at one end thereof, an outlet chamber having a lateral outlet port, said outlet chamber being disposed at an angle with respect to said inlet chamber and communicating therewith remote from said inlet port, and a piston valve in each of said chambers, said inlet chamber being provided with a groove extending from adjacent the inlet port toward said outlet chamber, the piston valve in said inlet chamber being weight biased toward said inlet port and retractable to permit bypass through said groove, and said outletchamber being provided with a seat between the inlet chamber and the outlet port, the piston valve in said outlet chamber being resiliently biased toward said seat and retractable under pressure therefrom to permit flow therepast.

2. In a double acting valve of the class described the combination of a valve body having an inlet chamber with an inlet port at one end thereof, an outlet chamber having a lateral outlet port, said outlet chamber being disposed at an angle with respect to said inlet chamber and communicating therewith remote from said inlet port, and a piston valve in each of said chambers, said inlet chamber being provided with a deepening groove extending from adjacent the inlet port toward said outlet chamber, the piston valve in said inlet chamber being Weight biased toward said inlet port and retractable to permit bypass through said groove, and said outlet chamber being provided with a seat between the inlet chamber and the outlet port, the piston valve in said outlet chamber being resiliently biased toward said seat and retractable under pressure therefrom to permit fiow therepast, the inlet chamber being provided with an air vent remote from and aligned with said piston valve and adapted to be sealed thereby when said valve is retracted.

3. In a double acting valve of the class described the combination of a valve body having an inlet chamber with an inlet port at one end thereof, an outlet chamber having a lateral outlet port, said outlet chamber being disposed at an angle with respect to said inlet chamber and communicating therewith remote from said inlet port, and a piston valve in each of said chambers, said inlet chamber being provided with a deepening groove extending from adjacent the inlet port toward said outlet chamber, the piston valve in said inlet chamber being weight biased toward said inlet port and retractable to permit bypass through said groove, and said outlet chamber being provided with a seat between the inlet chamber and the outlet port, the piston valve in said outlet chamber being resiliently biased toward said seat and retractable under pressure therefrom to permit flow therepast, the inlet chamber being rovided with an air vent remote from and aligned with said piston valve and adapted to be sealed thereby when said valve is retracted, said inlet chamber having a vent oppositely disposed from and aligned with said inlet port, and said piston valve having a vent valve resiliently mounted thereon facing said vent and adapted to seat therein when said piston valve is retracted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

